Fabulous goal, Monty. And you'll definitely want the resources to allow some flexibility with your son flying from the nest! Sounds like you'll be in great company. Try not to make them look too slow...

Did my first tri in a few years this morning, it was great to be back in the game!

I forgot it is a pain to get to this triathlon, you have to park and take a bus there. I was running a bit late, had to get packet this morning, but I made it just in time with a few minutes to spare at the starting line. Love the excitement sitting waiting in the water for the starting gun to go off, that never goes away!

750m lake swim, in water that was over 90 degrees. It went pretty well. I forgot what it is like to jostle for position, but I finished in about 19 minutes which is OK, with room for improvement. 17.5 mile bike went better than I thought. I am a very weak biker, and had the goal of 12 miles an hour, but ended up averaging 14.5 MPH! This still puts me near the bottom of all age brackets, but it is something I can improve upon a lot in the future. The 5K run was pretty brutal. My left leg started to scream at me (quadriceps). I walked about 7 minutes of it, but still managed to finish in about 33 minutes.

At the end, it was sort of strange. They only had soda, no sports drinks, which have typically been at all the tris I have been to. However, they did have oranges, bananas, and sunflower seeds.

Overall, it wasn't very spectator-friendly (who wants to take a bus to be a spectator?), and the accoutrements weren't the best, but the course was very good. I would look for alternative tris next year, but if it's the only one around I'd do it again (but leave earlier next time).

What I learned in all my previous tris, and relearned Saturday: I am weakest at the bike, and that is a good thing, as the bike gives the most room for improvement in minutes (10% improvement in an 80 minute bike is a lot more than a 10% improvement in a 30 minute run, or a 19 minute swim).

So, my work is cut out for me for next year:
1. Stay healthy
2. Improve my bike by 10% (so if I did 14.5 MPH this year, then 16 (or more!) MPH next year!).

Some of these people passing me on the bike, I was in awe.

One important lesson: in lower gear, the same amount of work yields greater distance on the bike. Hence, if I have the choice of two gears that are equally hard to push, go for the lower gear as I will generally go faster. the faster I go, the more momentum I have, so the easier it is to keep going that fast.

I'm not sure that is true in terms of physics, but in practical terms it certainly seemed true on Saturday. first time I noticed the downside of having an extra-small gear up front.

Note sure about any of this, but just throwing out ideas wondering how to improve at bike. Aside from biking. A lot. Main goal is to switch to a bike-focused training regimen, whereas I was doing a run-focused regimen (because of achilles and knee issues which are largely cleared up, knock on wood). Oh and some other things:

1. Do some bricks next time for training.
2. Do the actual distances before the race next time (longest I ran before this race was about 4k, longest bike was 13 miles for a 17.5 mile tri).
3. Get bike stroller to drive around my daughter (I hear they weigh around 100 lbs, so that should be an interesting way to push my power in the bike!).

I tried to get on and comment way back when you posted but BT has been having issue with their forums.

A good goal (average) cadence on the bike is 90 RPM for the best efficiency. The only time you're not looking for 90 RPM, or a high cadence, is when you're out of the saddle or mashing the peddles trying to climb. This pace feels really fast for someone new to cycling or someone who's not used to spinning that fast. Basically you want to spin fast w/o your butt bouncing up and down on the saddle. It took me months to get where 90 RPM is comfortable. Now I find myself in the 100's many times without effort. I've read the some elite cyclist have an average cadence of 110-120, wow! So, you'll be shifting all the time unless you're on a flat trying to keep a high cadence. If you're mashing, slow cadence with lots of pressure you'll burn your legs out because of the energy expended. I wish I could explain it better for you. Search the articles on BT and do some research on it.

I just finished my first bike race, Tour De Goatneck. They had several distances but I chose the longest, 100K. If you're gonna do, do it! My goal was 4 hr and I finished in 3:50:37, 69.6 miles, 18.1 avg mph. It was a great day to ride!! Oh, my avg cadence was 89 RPM for the entire ride. Now, a nap!!

Finally paced under 6 min/km!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For a whole run, not just a part of one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Run 22m 16s
3.77 km
05m 54s /KM

You have no idea how happy this makes me. :D Totally rights the wronging of my swim coach no-showing me on our first session together this morning. Fortunately I needed the swim workout anyway, just bitter I had to drive 30 mins each way to do it. :P

Two days to go! Sunday is this season's closer for me. Training got derailed several times this month with family issues, so I'm going in to just give it 100% and enjoy the morning, and whatever happens, happens, results-wise. I have a few friends at this race, and its an "All Women's" event, so going to enjoy the camraderie.

My #1 goal this first season was to make it through injury-free, and I can say I've achieved that goal. I've enjoyed the challenges and the progress I've made, I've learned so much and made new friends, and I've even shed some weight and gained lots of fitness in the process, so I'm pleased as punch! My thanks to you guys for helping me through. As we start plunging ourselves into the dark depths of winter in 2 months, I've got some new goals to work towards for the 2014 season. I'm looking forward to it!

Hey Monty!
Season 1 done. A tough course... very hilly. I'm really happy with my efforts for the course. Missed a PR by 20 seconds from my second race, but there's no comparing the run courses... race #2 was 100% flat. This was anything but. I have never run up such steep hills. and the bike hills... going up they just didn't stop, but the downhills... WOW! just amazing speed. Took 45 seconds off my swim. Sighting was 100% on. Was able to incorporate some of the changes my coach has started.

But my #1 goal for this year... stay injury free... and I've done that. So i'm pleased as punch. My weakness are so evident right now, will make planning the long winter season easy.

I'm volunteering at the area's last tri in two weeks and things pretty much shut down here for the year. I've got a 5K in October that I'm doing with a friend and my goal is to finally break a 30 min 5K. It's a predominantly downhill course, so do-able... especially without having to swim and bike first :D

Thanks for all your support this season. Its really made a difference. I can't wait until next year. I think I"m going to try to get my hands on a wetsuit for next year as my "big purchase". Clipless pedals will have to wait one more year

Woo Hoo! That's great to hear! Sorry I'm so late reading it. Sounds like your season came to a head just like you planned. With improvement and fun!! And, don't you love those hills! It sure changes the pace/HR.

I took off 4-5 weeks there. Did the 100K ride event and said, "I'm done for a while"! It's been a nice break but amazing how fast I gained 10 pounds, lol. But, diet is back in check (mostly) and I spent time in all three sports last week and got to the gym! The water felt sooooo good after my extended absence from the pool.

What is required to be in the mentoring group? I've done several sprints, now looking to play with the big boys and girls with my first attempt at the half IM distance in April 2014. I need help getting trough the winter months.

I'm 43 and I retired from playing a low level of football about 10 years ago. Since then I've taken part in one or two 10k runs and last year I entered my first mini sprint Triathlon.
I enjoyed the multi discipline training and I hope to enter at least one again this year.
I'm from the UK and my current training is very limited at the moment, couple of spin classes a week, so in the New Year I'm going back to full training again.

I was part of one of the mentor groups last year and found it both fun and informative.

Hi guys. This was never a "closed" group like most become. I guess that's why it's still listed as "open". Jenny left long ago when she got busy opening a fitness center based on spin classes. Just a couple of us kept it going but mostly it died a long slow death.